Does it exist? Are there any members on this board? Can I learn the secret handshake? What other movies do you have to see to qualify? What juicy Shaw Brothers-era gossip do you need to know?

I'm being facetious, but he was just so darn sweet in HONG KONG NOCTURNE, and seeing him in the trailer for THE DANCING MILLIONAIRESS (on my copy of THE MERRY WIFE) has me curious.

I thought I was his only fan! I actually bought a Cathay poster with him on it for like $60! He was not exactly the most dynamic actor around - kind of simpy in a sweet way - but thats what was considered romantic back then I guess. Anyway, he made a lot of movies - mainly musicals or comedies - for both Cathay and Shaw before his early death at 40 from cancer and he is pretty much the same character in all of them - but its one that has grown on me quite a bit. One major recommendation for one of his films is Mambo Girl - a fabulous black and white film from Cathay - though in truth his role is quite secondary to that of Grace Chang's - but I just like to take every chance I can to push it! He is also pretty good in HK Rhapsody and has an amazingly stupid song about being irresistable to women. Another favorite is his peanut song in Cinderella's Angels in which he romances a mannequin that looks like Linda Lin Dai.

And another fan here! CINDERELLA AND HER LITTLE ANGELS is the last film Brian's referring to and it's well worth picking up with MAMBO GIRL if you want to sample his Cathay work. If you're interested in Chen, Paul Fonoroff's bio on him should also make a good read: http://www.gstage.com/cgi-bin/f_article.cgi?article=2458

Tim.

Sign me up!

I've had a great time watching SB's musicals and comedies and I think he's a doll. Especially in a sweater. :)

-- Paula

Sorry, folks, but I'm too busy setting up my Linda Lin Dai and Cheng Pei Pei fan clubs. As for the guys, I'll stick with Jimmy Wang Yu and Ti Lung. (Dream teaming: Wang Yu and Lin Dai. The One-Armed Swordsman meets the Last Woman of Shang at the Temple of the Red Lotus. Oh, if only. )

The movies: Peter Chen Ho is always charming. His films often leave something to be desired. His Inoue Umetsugu collaborations are top notch, spirited productions, but the bigger, Doe Chin directed musicals like THE DANCING MILLIONAIRESS and LOVE PARADE feel weighted down by their elaborate set pieces and just grind along (DANCING is his best w/Doe Chin that I've seen, though). TIL THE END OF TIME features Peter Chen Ho in a (melo)dramatic role, I'd recommend it if you want to spend some quality time with the man, though he is a bit of a self-pitying wretch in it.

-- Peter

"Sorry, folks, but I'm too busy setting up my Linda Lin Dai "

You should pick up Madam White Snake then - it includes a little booklet devoted to her and includes a number of picts of her - a lovely addition to this dvd.

Yes, a wonderful actor. As Steven Teo points out in HONG KONG CINEMA: THE EXTRA DIMENSIONS, he is largely there to play off the extraordinarily charismatic acresses who at the center of the films.

Still, he's just perfect in many of these films. HONG KONG NOCTURNE and MAMBO GIRL are among my all-time favorite Hong Kong movies. Read HOLLYWOOD EAST for an amazing account of the audience's reaction to the opening of MAMBO GIRL at a revival screening a few years ago.

Hooray, I just got HONG KONG RHAPSODY, THE MILLIONAIRE CHASE and THE DANCING MILLIONAIRESS in the mail today. (The place I ordered it from was out of LOVE PARADE.) I'd really like to get WHOSE BABY IS IN THE CLASSROOM? as well. Kind of unsavory looking and his last film?